Cocaine Overdose

One of the primary factors driving the increase in cocaine overdose effects is the popularity of fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid that is available legally as a prescription painkiller and illegally as a recreational, mind-altering substance.

Fentanyl and its synthetic cousins (including carfentanil, a notorious substance that is 100 times more potent than fentanyl) are often mixed with cocaine by users or by cocaine dealers, creating an updated version of the “speedball” (heroin mixed with cocaine) that was popular on the illegal drug scene in the 1980s. In some instances, it appears that fentanyl is being labeled ‘heroin’ by dealers who sell this cheaper yet more lethal drug to unsuspecting customers, who may consume far too much of it as a result of the deception.

People with substance use issues often mix drugs, but doing so is incredibly dangerous. Toxicology tests revealed that approximately 40 percent of cocaine overdose victims in 2016 also had fentanyl or synthetic opioids in their system at the time of their passing, and in these instances it was the combination of drugs that proved fatal.

But the use of cocaine with synthetic opioids only explains some of the increase in cocaine-related overdose deaths. Other factors mentioned by addiction

 specialists, law enforcement agencies, and public health officials include:

• Expanded availability. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration confirms that increasing supplies of cocaine are now entering the country from South America.
• Lower prices. Expanded supply leads to falling prices, and the street price for a gram of cocaine dropped from $202 in 2015 to just $165 in 2016.
• Greater purity. The cocaine available on the black market today is far purer than what was sold in the 1980s, and that makes it both more addictive and more likely to cause a severe overdose.
• Lack of treatment. There were approximately 867,000 people in the United States with a cocaine use disorder in 2016. But only 18 percent of those who have drug use disorders receive treatment for their conditions annually, and with cocaine being more lethal than ever this puts hundreds of thousands of people at unnecessary risk.